


Brief Construction Montage

by iiii



Series: Incidents in Transit [20]
Category: Firefly, Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-13 00:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16882371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iiii/pseuds/iiii
Summary: What follows is a brief construction montage.





	Brief Construction Montage

River and Jamie swept the galley for bugs before dinner. It was still a quiet meal. Jamie and Mal re-figured the trajectory to Santo. The little children spoke approvingly of the playground equipment at the park where they’d spent their day, but Hobey would not leave Zoe’s lap, and An Lee followed everyone’s movements with anxious eyes.

No one else had much to say.

 

* * *

 

Sam and Dean, dressed for sleep, stood in the doorways to their respective rooms.

“But, is there anything we’re supposed to do?” Sam asked.

“‘bout what the angel said? I don’t know,” Dean said.

“Is there anything we even can do?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Good question.”

Zoe appeared from the lounge. “You mind if I…?”

“No, yeah,” Sam said, and moved aside to let her into his room. “You on at midnight again?”

“No more night watches,” she said. “Captain’s decided you’re not like to 'jack his ship.” She climbed into Sam’s bed. “We’ve got far too much work to be done tomorrow, so it’d be welcome if you’re minded to throw in…”

River dropped three more dead bugs in the bucket in the lounge. She tugged at Dean’s sleeve as she slipped past into his room.

They all went to bed.

 

* * *

 

Over breakfast, Mal outlined the project. Jamie, River, and Simon would refit the galley for bulk cooking and to fit more tables. Kaylee, Zoe, and Victor would fill the free space in the passenger lounge with sanitary units. Mal, Jayne, Sam, and Dean would be erecting cargo cages in the hold.

Dean stopped him right there. Dean wanted cash payment in advance.

Mal took the opportunity to reopen the question of the Winchesters’ status shipboard.

Sam pointed out that their passage had already been paid by third parties.

Mal countered that the fare money had gone in partial payment of fines levied by the Pelorum Port Authority, and since that expense had only been incurred because the Winchesters’ traveling light show had ruined a perfectly good getaway, they should be grateful he wasn’t making them work off the rest of the cost, which had come out of Mal’s pocket.

Discussion grew heated. Hobey began to cry.

They settled the Winchesters’ status as 'casual labor.’ Remuneration for this day’s work was shared rooms in crew quarters, board, and a wage to be paid in cash when they made port; same terms if the Winchesters re-upped for the next leg of the journey.

They baby-gated the little children into their playroom and set to work.

 

* * *

 

Mal, Jayne, Sam and Dean lowered the mule from its tethers and tied it down in the forward port corner of the hold. In its place up by the ceiling they fitted an I-beam, centerline fore to aft, and from it hung an overhead crane. They disassembled the staircases and catwalks and started framing.

 

Jayne set an upright into its post-hole. “So what the [Chinese phrase] was that thing, anyway?”

Mal barked, “Jayne!” at the same time same time Sam said, “Angel.”

“Seeing as that whatsum got me dropped in the pan, I got a right to ask, Mal, and I been forbearing long enough.”

Mal scowled, then shrugged and motioned Sam and Dean to hoist the next cross-bar. Mal riveted it in place.

Sam said, “That was an angel. Checking to see if we got freezer-burn, I guess.”

Jayne set the next upright and grunted encouragingly.

Sam started with the basics of practical eschatology. He and Dean traded off telling their experiences of apocalyptic prophecy, and the angels’ time capsule stratagem.

 

“What was River caterwauling about there, just before the jetros boarded us?” Jayne asked.

“Oh. Um. Turns out, she’s kind of got an angel fan club following her around.”

“When Mal lit up that banishing sigil," Dean said, "it sent the Little River Band off into the cornfield along with Julie. We didn’t know about River’s angels, or we’d have warned her. And she didn’t know what the sigil was going to do. So…”

“She was not happy when they vanished on her,” Sam finished.

Mal held up a hand. “Angels are following River around," he ground out. "Which means they are following my ship around. Holy lightning monsters are following my ship.”

“Dude. They been following you for years. They latched on to River back on Miranda.”

“What.”

“They were there because of all the death, I think? That lawyer angel wasn’t too clear on the details. Too busy practically reciting poetry about the beauty of her soul. Something like, she was the magical flame and they were just moths.”

“They’ve been running interference for you ever since. He said they try not to get all hands-on like with that lawyer stunt back on Pelorum, but they’ve been keeping the law off your backs the whole time, for River’s sake.”

“That thing with the blood you had me do,” Mal said. “That’s why they locked on us so sudden?”

Dean nodded.

Mal punched Dean in the face, knocking him down.

Sam got in between them, hands up. “We didn’t know that was going to happen, man. We didn’t know.”

Mal stepped back, slowly.

Dean got up. “You feel better now?”

Mal glared at them. “You owe me the rest of that fine.”

“Everything all right?” Kaylee said from the aft hatch. Simon and Zoe were crowded by her in the doorway.

“Yeah, Kaylee, shiny,” the captain said. “Back to work.”

They went back to work.

 

* * *

 

Not long before noon, Jamie appeared in the forward upper hatch. “Ready for inspection, Mal.”

“Be right there,” Mal called back. They finished setting the floor plate they had in hand. Mal nodded to Sam and Dean. “You two clear out your rooms. Jayne, help them get shifted into my bunk.”

“Three grown men’ll be a tidy fit in there, Mal,” Jayne said.

“That’s why I’ll be dossing on the bridge,” Mal replied.

 

Mal inspected and signed off on the changes in the galley, then went to move his own things. Jamie and her team made lunch.

 

Once they were all seated, Jamie made the Winchesters repeat what they’d told Jayne.

Simon was incredulous. “You’re saying Badger, the man in the bowler hat, is literally the demon king of Hell.”

“Last we knew, yeah, he was king of Hell,” Dean said. “From what Nahaliel was telling us, though, it’s more like he’s king of the demons. He doesn’t have control of Hell.”

“I’m going to be sorry I asked, but in this fantasy of yours, who does have control of Hell?”

“Kali the Destroyer.”

“Yes. Definitely sorry.”

Victor said, “Kali, who you rescued from Lucifer in Hammer of the Gods.”

Jamie nodded approvingly at her son’s command of scripture.

Dean was less impressed. “What? No.”

“Is that what Chuck said happened?”

“Chuck is so full of shit.”

Jamie and Victor looked scandalized.

“We still don’t know what all happened in that motel,” Dean said. “Gabriel smuggled us out with the other hostages. All we saw of the real throwdown was fireworks in our rear-view.”

“So sorry to interrupt,” Mal said, “but time’s a-wasting. Who’s on dishes?”

Simon raised a hand.

Mal nodded. “Victor, River, shift your traps into crew space. The kids’ too. Get all the rooms redd up for passengers, then report to Kaylee. Jamie, start getting the locks on the hatches reset. Take Simon if you need an extra set of hands. Kids, stay with Simon. Everyone else, back to work.”

An Lee squalled at being made to change rooms. Hobey chimed in with her. The rest of the company went back to work, leaving the tantrums and the dishes to Simon.

 

* * *

 

Mal called Kaylee in to inspect the cargo cages mid-afternoon.

A bank of cages stood five meters high on either side of the hold, sided with chain link and topped with hard flooring, with a wide aisle down the center. Doors, upper and lower, faced the aisle, with ladder rungs to the top between every other set of doors. A clunky-looking drawbridge arrangement amidships connected the two sides. Six meters of deck space had been left empty aft, with a metal grating floor above. Access steps had been bolted in place below the various upper hatches. 

 

“Get that one scrap of floor panel tacked down proper, and you’re shiny,” Kaylee said. “We gonna set out the berths today?”

“Nah. I’m minded to leave it for the next leg so’s we can get some sleep before Santo.”

Kaylee smiled. “I love my captain.”

“How’s the plumbing going? Need more hands?”

“We should be done in an hour or two, as we are.”

“Good. Gives us time to finish rummaging the goods in here.”

 

Mal introduced Sam and Dean to the program that optimized the placement of mass in the cargo hold. The mule would be staying in the foremost port cage. Nearly everything else had to be moved.

Mal let Dean run the overhead crane.

 

Jamie and Simon came through to remove small-but-vital parts from the shuttles, block off the piloting consoles, and fix open their doors. They left An Lee and Hobey with Dean. He taught them to operate the drawbridge.

 

Mal inspected the new plumbing, then had everyone bathe, for a stress-test. He christened the first bog himself.

 

* * *

 

Mal insisted that dinner conversation be theology-free. Instead, there was a lively discussion of what to do with the bucketful of dead bugs and trackers now stowed in the infirmary. Victor wanted to break them down for parts. Jayne thought they should be fixed and sold intact. They did not settle the question.

 

After dinner, Mal gave River the conn, as a course correction was scheduled for mid-evening. Zoe was left to do bedtime with the little ones. Everyone else went to get some sleep.

 

River woke Mal at midnight, and he roused the others. Kaylee broke out the Peet’s. Jamie relieved River of the conn.

 

* * *

 

At 2 AM ship’s time, they land at Mirable Port, Santo, in bright morning sunshine. They’re only a day late.

**Author's Note:**

> We hope you enjoyed this brief construction montage.


End file.
